Israel Tests Anti-Missile System

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel successfully tested an anti-missilesystem designed to protect the country against Iranian attack, theDefense Ministry said, perfecting technology developed in responseto failures of similar systems during the 1991 Gulf War.

The intercept of a dummy missile was the 17th test of the Arrowsystem, a U.S.-Israeli joint venture. Israeli defense officialssaid the interceptor was an upgraded Arrow II, designed to counterIran's Shahab ballistic missile.

Israel has identified Iran as its biggest threat, citing thecountry's nuclear program and its development of long-rangeballistic missiles. Those fears have been compounded by IranianPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's repeated calls for the destructionof the Jewish state.

Israel believes Iran is developing nuclear weapons that couldpose a threat to its existence. Iran denies that and says itsnuclear work is for peaceful purposes such as energy production.Israel has threatened military action, and Iran has said it wouldstrike back, warning last month that Israel's own nuclearfacilities were within missile range.

Iran's Shahab-3 missiles have a range of up to 1,250 miles(2,000 kilometers), putting Israel well within striking distance.Iranian officials were not available for comment on the Israelitest.

In a statement, the Defense Ministry said the interceptor shotdown "a missile simulating a ballistic threat in especiallychallenging conditions." It called the test "an important step inthe development program and the development of operationalabilities to counter the growing threat of ballistic missiles inthe region."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak watched Tuesday's intercept from amilitary helicopter, the ministry said. According to the IsraeliEmbassy in Washington, Pentagon representatives also were present.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made the Iranianthreat a top priority of his administration, congratulated defenseofficials for the successful test. "While we are for peace, wewill know how to defend ourselves," he said.

In an interview Tuesday with CNN, U.S. Vice President Joe Bidenwas asked how worried he is that Israel, under Netanyahu, willlaunch a strike to take out Iran's nuclear facilities.

"I don't believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu would do that,"Biden said. "I think he would be ill-advised to do that. And so mylevel of concern is no different than it was a year ago."

The Arrow project is being developed by Israel AerospaceIndustries Ltd. and Chicago-based Boeing Co. at a cost of more than$1 billion. It was spurred largely by the failure of the U.S.military's Patriot missiles to intercept Iraqi Scud rockets thatstruck Israel in the 1991 Gulf War.

Several batteries of Arrow missiles are already operational. ButIsrael has been working to perfect the system to deal withincreasingly complicated threats, such as missiles that strike atextremely high speeds from high altitudes and could split apart asthey approach their targets.

Iran has worked hard to increase the accuracy of its missiles.In November, it successfully test-fired the Sajjil, a solid fuelhigh-speed missile with a range 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers).Solid fuel is considered a significant breakthrough because itincreases accuracy.

Rick Lehner, spokesman for the Pentagon's Missile DefenseAgency, said the Arrow is meant to intercept short- andmedium-range ballistic missiles.

"This was the most advanced version of the Arrow weapons systemin terms of the ability to perform the type of intercept that wouldbe necessary to destroy a ballistic missile target," he said. Hesaid that in conjunction with Patriot missiles, which strike at alower altitude, Israel has "deployed a layered defense."

Israel is also developing a system to counter short and mediumrange rockets of the kind possessed by Palestinian and Lebanesemilitants. The system, called the Iron Dome, is set to be deployednext year.

The U.S. military has conducted separate tests in recent yearsof different components of the defensive shield, which is slated toinclude Patriot air defense batteries, anti-ballistic missileslaunched from Navy ships and lasers mounted in planes designed toshoot down incoming missiles.

Last month, the U.S. military's ground-based mobile missiledefense system successfully shot down a medium-range ballisticmissile during a test in Hawaii.

It was the first time the military fired two interceptors at onetarget using the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, aprogram designed to shoot down ballistic missiles in their laststage of flight.

The drill followed up on a test that was planned for lastSeptember but had to be aborted when the target malfunctionedshortly after launch.

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